And maybe this is why.
I can’t blame the kid for keeping it a secret, neither one of them. Baseball isn’t exactly the most inclusive of professionalsports, but it doesn’t make a difference to me who they go to bed with at night, as long as they’re bringing it on the field.
And this? This might work to our advantage.
The boys finally let their hands drop and they all fall into a conversation together, Cole and Archie joining in easily as they talk about where they want to live for Spring Training and getting to Florida early in order to maximize their prep time before the rest of the squad arrives.
Frankie moves to my side as we watch it unfold and whispers, “What do you think?”
“I think Xander Greene is going to be one hell of a centerfielder and Kai Nakamura one hell of a starting pitcher in this league, and if they can do those things on the same team while they figure out whatever the hell we just saw was, more power to them.”
“You don’t think it’ll be a distraction?”
“Not in my clubhouse.”
“There’s never been a publicly out Major Leaguer, let alone one that’s going to get the amount of attention Kai is about to get.”
“He’s not out. Not to us, at least, and unless he is, then our response is no comment. If he decides he wants to make an announcement, we’ll support him. What did Ted Lasso say? It matters to us because he matters to us.”
“The writing of that episode was super clunky. But, yeah, that was the gist.”
“You won’t disrespect Ted Lasso to me.”
“Oh, don’t tell me you’re one of those people who were glad that Ted and Rebecca didn’t get together.”
“I thought it was refreshing to see a platonic relationship onTV.”
“We don’t have time for this right now, but at some point weare watching that show together and I’m going to make sure you understand just how wrong you are.”
“I’ll bake shortbread.”
“You can bake?”
“I can do a lot of things, Sullivan. Now, c’mon, can’t let these boys do all the heaving lifting for us.”
She grins and steps away to join the conversation, but before I can follow her, Dan Wilson is next to me.
“This is one hell of a stunt the girl pulled.”
“You mean the woman in charge of a billion-dollar company about to offer your player hundreds of millions of dollars? She doesn’t pull stunts,” I insist, trying to keep my cool, “She does what she thinks will work.”
“It won’t. Her bid is going to be tens of millions behind the leaders.”
“Then why did you even show up today?”
“Price goes up when more teams are involved.”
“Really? Or did your client insist?”
I’ve been around enough fans in my time to know it. Kai Nakamura is a fan. He wanted to meet me. Maybe our initial bid wasn’t close. Doesn’t mean it won’t be the one he takes.
The agent’s silence is enough to confirm it.
“He’s a hell of a kid, Dan. He’s gonna be great. Don’t get in his way. Let him make the call.”
“It’s my job to look out for his best interest.”
“Well, let’s just see how this plays out,” I say, looking over to where the boys and our top free agent target have their heads bent together while Archie shows Kai his knuckleball grip.
